Finding the right groove

Posted January 12th, 2018, 10:43 AM IST

Rohit Samuel and Ashok Varghese were college mates, whose mutual interest in music brought them together. After several years of playing music with each other, they decided that it was time to go commercial and that’s how Marcus Find a Gun, the Hyderabad-based indie band, was formed.

Eventually, another friend of the duo, Jonathan Edward, joined in on the guitar. Lead vocalist Ashok’s brother Alex was brought in on the cajón and vocals despite him being a drummer. Meanwhile, Rohit continued on the bass guitar. From being a small acoustic band formed towards the end of 2015, they have grown into a unit that now has around 500 shows to their credit, mostly on demand from the audience.

“Despite all the music we were working on, somewhere we needed the punch and it was probably necessary to become a bit louder,” shares Eddie (Edward).

Interestingly, all the members of the group are part of other bands too. But what sets this group apart is that Marcus... is their primary job. “Playing for our other bands gives us space to create original music and work on our sound. But Marcus... is our commercial space. Since the beginning, we were clear that we’d work on music that would appeal to people. So, even though we might work on cover versions of pop songs, we will stand out. That’s our USP,” states Rohit, who teaches music in a school in Hyderabad. Meanwhile, Eddie works as a music teacher too while Alex and Ashok are associated with an online ad agency.

One wonders how they make time for music, with so much going on. “What we do is fun. Alongside working on music that many people seem to like, we also have our own individual scene going on. The only thing I look forward to in this year is more shows across the country. That would be a fun prospect,” grins Alex.

So how did they come up with their unique band name? Rohit responds with a laugh, “Eddie and I were listening to the song Lean On when we were in a different zone altogether. There’s a line in the song: ‘Blow a kiss. Fire a gun.’ Strangely, we misheard the lyrics, and thought it’s Marcus Find A Gun! We were deciding on a band name and this felt just right.”